life on a small island

unashamedly cribbed from Making Light

2011-11-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

The description below of "Social Media" is so brilliant and so right that I felt oblidged to steal it and post it here. No apologies.

There’s no way to take a time-out from our social life and describe it to a computer without social consequences. At the very least, the fact that I have an exquisitely maintained and categorized contact list telegraphs the fact that I’m the kind of schlub who would spend hours gardening a contact list, instead of going out and being an awesome guy. The social graph wants to turn us back into third graders, laboriously spelling out just who is our fifth-best-friend. But there’s a reason we stopped doing that kind of thing in third grade!

You might almost think that the whole scheme had been cooked up by a bunch of hyperintelligent but hopelessly socially naive people, and you would not be wrong. Asking computer nerds to design social software is a little bit like hiring a Mormon bartender. Our industry abounds in people for whom social interaction has always been more of a puzzle to be reverse-engineered than a good time to be had, and the result is these vaguely Martian protocols. […]

We have a name for the kind of person who collects a detailed, permanent dossier on everyone they interact with, with the intent of using it to manipulate others for personal advantage—we call that person a sociopath. And both Google and Facebook have gone deep into stalker territory with their attempts to track our every action. Even if you have faith in their good intentions, you feel misgivings about stepping into the elaborate shrine they’ve built to document your entire online life.

Open data advocates tell us the answer is to reclaim this obsessive dossier for ourselves, so we can decide where to store it. But this misses the point of how stifling it is to have such a permanent record in the first place. Who does that kind of thing and calls it social?

my country t'is of thee

2011-08-09T23:56:00.000-07:00

It pains me to what is going on in my home country right now. I was one of the many who saw no choice but to leave in order to save my family and myself from what I saw as the inevitable destruction of society being visited by Thatcher and her slightly redder successors. Now the grandchildren of those years have risen up and expressed themselves in the only voice left to them. The destruction is horrible and the violence is foul but the systematic opression that so many people in the class formally known as working have lived through for so long made this sort of outbreak almost inevitable. And nothing will come of it except for more opression, more suppression and anything but the deep social remedies that have been needed for far too long. They say you can never go home but my home doesn't even exist anymore.

southern entertainment at it's best

2011-08-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

Given the appearance (from the outside at least) that the US has been systematically creating a population of undereducated and uninformed drones for some time now how can one be surprised at the results? Representative democracy within the states really does appear to be representative of what those amongst the US people who actually bother to vote have come to believe in. Sad but true for the rest of the world. I'm sure there are reasonable and well-informed people there. I just wish they would get out and vote for people who will bring their points of view into the political world. Until that happens the mob will get what the mob wants.

suffering to be beautiful

2011-02-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

Not that being beautiful has ever been something I've had to worry about. But I'm undeniably getting older and am in the hollow middle ground between caring about how I live and actually doing something about it. Eat well, eat healthy, watch your weight. So many opinions so few facts. The industry that purports to reverse aging (or at least the "signs" of aging) is a multi-billion dollar boondoggle and we all work terribly hard on our individual denials don't we. Wear your lines with pride for they are campaign medals in the battle for the human soul.

another one bites the dust

2011-01-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

RIP Gerry Rafferty, your voice filled an empty place in my soul.

so this is christmas and what have you done?

2010-12-29T19:35:00.000-08:00

Another year over and the gods alone know what the new one holds. I've never felt so indecisive about the future. The coming summer is a nexus point in so many ways as the family splits apart, each one finding their own way way in the world. It's going to be strange to be alone after such a long time. It doesn't matter that last few years have been full of dispute and foolish arguments. We still spent time together even as we dealt with our differences but that seems to be at an end. I don't know if we'll end up half the city or half the world apart but it will happen and I will have to deal with it. Maybe it's time to exercise a little constructive selfishness and ask myself what I've been setting aside that would have meant something to me had I just done it? The best way to tackle change is head-on with eyes and dreams wide open. I hope I can do it.

so where did the year go again?

2010-12-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

I wish I could say that the reason I haven't added anything to this blog since the summer was because my fascinating everyday life has kept me so busy doing wonderful things that I just couldn't even squeeze out the tiniest morsel of joy for my reader to enjoy. Unfortunately the true reason is probably closer to apathy then anything else.

And speaking of apathy, hey look! It's christmas again. Oh boy. Has it ever occurred to you how much nicer an experience it is giving (and getting) presents at a time where it isn't culturally mandated? I guess one can always use more socks but seriously? Why?

My son was born on December 18th and I have always put a fair amount of effort in preventing his birthday from being subsumed into the whole christmas thing. That in turn led me to believe in the joy of giving the unexpected present as being the far superior practice.

I mean I will give christmas presents, both to family and friends. Just don't expect it to end there...

you can put the rock in the boy but you can't get the rock outta their heads

2010-08-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

I was talking with a friend over the weekend and the subject of games consoles came up. I happened to mention casually how much I hated RockBand/GuitarHero and their clones to be greeted with astonishment. "But aren't they introducing a generation of kids to classic songs?"

Well, yes they are. But they're also close to destroying any chance of those kids ever playing any of that music.

Warning: 'get-off-my-lawn' moment coming up here folks: I heard some great music when I was growing up, some of it by chance and some of it I actively sought out. It inspired me to pick up a guitar and figure out how to play it. Now good music is inspiring your kids to do what? Push some buttons quickly. What they are learning has no connection to playing music whatsoever and could be said to be making it impossible to learn. After all if you can figure out four buttons, post your video on YouTube and become an overnight hero what incentive is there to sit down with six real strings and learn how to play an actual guitar. Hard work, takes years, includes many, many moments of frustration. Four buttons is much easier.

For those who deplore the descent of the creative force of music into formularised industry and Justin Bieber - look no further then your own front room for one of the reasons.

it's been a while

2010-05-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

No matter how much I try things never get to the point where blogging actually matters which I'm well aware is probably terribly blasphemous and stuff. And, as I don't know if anyone really reads this drivel, I guess that makes it easy to ignore the occasional faint desire to make more regular entries. Still there will no doubt be times when one wants to pull out the dusty soapbox from it's home under the desk and pontificate in the general direction of the internet. With that in mind I'll continue to pollute the ether with my random thoughts. So until the next eruption - good night and have a nice life.

for ever in your debt

2010-01-12T20:04:00.001-08:00

For ever in your debt. As a style of manners it has value. As a lifestyle choice I'm not so sure. I spent a moment or two over Christmas considering my own values. Of course I gave presents to my family. I like to think I even thought about them in terms of what the recipient would appreciate and enjoy. However, unlike previous years I refused to go beyond my means this time around. I'm almost done climbing out from under a pile of debt accumulated over several years and I have no plan to go back there. Now, even a simple thing like running up the credit card a bit to buy "better" presents makes me nervous. I read of people living from paycheck to paycheck, which I have done for a long time. Then I remember living from next month's paychecks to the month afters's. I don't want to go back there again. Maybe things will get better but I intend to make sure I don't make my own life any worse then it has to be.

even I have an opinion about health care

2009-12-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

After an interesting conversation or two with a acquaintance from Washington state I'm starting to really realise how entrenched the whole health care debate has become "down there". Yeah, I know I'm kinda slow here but it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff with all the blowing and sucking that's going on in the media.

So, here's my sop to the right wing: actually the much vaunted/derided "socialist" health care system in Canada isn't free at all. Yes folks, we do pay for our care here. I mean I have to pay an insurance premium for my Medical Services Plan. Last I looked it was $36 a month but it's the principal dammit. Maybe that will put a smile on a republican face or two.

And wait times? It's all relative. When I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer seven years ago I got to see a specialist immediately. Surgery was the choice and it was done within a week. Fortunately for me it was found early and I'm still around to annoy people.

On the other hand, I now have a condition called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome as the result of a car accident two years ago and the diagnosis and treatment are proceeding at a far more leisurely pace. The condition is annoying and occasional debilitating but it's not disabling and I'm OK with the speed things are going at. I also know that if it gets a lot worse a lot quicker we will pick up the pace and change the priorities.

It's nice to know that if my WA colleague has an ingrowing toenail he gets to see a podiatrist the next day. However the notion that he'll spend the next few years paying for it creates a pain in a far more fundamental location.

So that's my two cents, looking at the hash Congress is making - particularly those therein who fancy themselves kingmakers, I don't see it getting any better for my neighbours with any great speed but I sure do hope an outbreak of common sense happens soon.

OK, so maybe I'll keep using wtf? for a bit yet

2009-09-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

What can one say? My heart goes out to Taylor Swift. I've already read people claiming that it was "staged" but it looked pretty much like random stupid to me.

guess summer happened after all

2009-09-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

I sometimes envy those with the energy (and imagination) to maintain a blog on an almost daily basis. Myself, I have tended to want to "say something" with my entries. I guess the six week blank since my last effort says a lot about that idea. Ah well, perhaps my eloquence will assert itself in other ways. We'll see...

On the Death of Democracy

2009-07-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

So, have you voted for anything that was good for you lately? I remember being told once that, even if there was nothing you wanted to vote for there would always be something you wanted to vote against. These days it seems that the thing most voted against is intelligence and the elusive and misleadingly named thing called common sense.

I’m not going to rail against the quality of education systems, either within North America or worldwide. There are those far better qualified then me to deconstruct the myths of education and academic achievement that we have been spoon-fed for so long. What I do hold dear is the quaint notion that people really are entitled to good government, assuming that is that they can recognise and endorse it. That last has been sorely lacking and not just in recent times. It really does seem that the idea of an educated electorate debating the issues and voting for real solutions has vanished into the mist.

I recall a piece of graffiti sprayed on a railway bridge in London that said “it doesn’t matter who you vote for, you still end up with a government”. That cynicism encompasses the world we live in doesn’t it. But, should it? Are we so far divorced from the possibility of good government that we despair of ever seeing it again?

Politicians rank right down there with used-car salesmen and insurance adjustors when it comes to trust and perceived honesty. It’s not that fact that rankles; it’s the appearance that nobody, least of all the politicians themselves, seems to care about changing that fact. What’s wrong with this picture?

On the Death of Capitalism

2009-07-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

It's OK; your money's still good here. Just take a minute to think of some of the other things you could be doing with it.

A simplistic view of the idea of capitalism is that money gravitates to those who produce the best products. An educated consumer class drives the quality spiral ever upwards and those who produce the best reap the rewards. Now that idea creates dependencies. It puts forward the proposition that the buyer will establish which products are the best and support them. That the consumer will continue to support the efforts of inventive and creative entrepreneurs who anticipate and fill the consumers needs.

So what's wrong with this picture? How does the public become acquainted with the new, the inventive and the excellent? Look at most, if not all advertisements in newspapers and other circulations from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. What do they tell you? Do they describe their goods in earnest, sober tones, with testimonials from decent citizens and the like? Certainly many do. Others are written like mini polemics but at least retain a shred of dignity.

Contrast that with today’s advertising methods. The old expression about “the sizzle, not the steak” palls when compared with the reality of advertising that goes out of its way to avoid mentioning anything about the qualities of the goods they are promoting. Let’s promote a lifestyle, a style, a bastardised ideal. Anything rather then talk about the crazy notion that whatever is being sold might be of any real use to anyone or have any intrinsic quality beyond its invented social status.

The second idea was the educated consumer, ever looking for the best things his or her money can buy and equipped with the sensibility to identify it and the desire to promote it to others. I guess that phenomenon disappeared with most other ideas about an ever improving standard of education being the right of the people.

“The public gets what the public wants but I don’t get what this society wants” to quote a songwriter from the 80’s. We have not so much created a monster as by our inaction allowed a monster to come into existence. Maybe it’s too late to change this but, for the sake of my children’s children, I hope not.

as the world turns

2009-06-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

I had a little crisis today, thinking about this blog. Is it just a vanity project? I tend to update infrequently and don't have much to say. I guess I could try it as an online diary but that would be just too boring. And it's not as if I have a raft of deep thoughts to share with the world either.

I guess I'll just muddle along with it for now and see where it leads me.

flaming june

2009-06-01T23:01:00.001-07:00

At last the temperature rises a fraction above 20C. It has been the longest, dullest winter. Now I can finally put all my various plans for improving my life into action - right . . .

Of course that all depends on several, shall we say, "variables"? Will I be able to break the back of the yard before it breaks mine? Will I finally clear enough random junk out of my garage to be able to park my car out of the warm sun? (I am seriously considering buying a much smaller car just to move this idea within the realms of possibility)

Who knows? Well, if last summer is anything to go by the plans will be made, redrawn, seriously considered and then shelved due to an overwhelming need to just get out there and enjoy the brief weeks of summer. So there.

But the idea that stuff might get done is enticing, I must admit...

life at the bottom of the food chain

2009-05-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

Hell's help desk, how may I assist you? We're not satisfied until you're not satisfied.

Yep, it's been that kind of week.

And I'm actually not complaining. After all, without all those wonderful people asking for my help where would I be? (/snark)

let's try this again

2009-05-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day in the US, just another work day up here. Somehow last weekend's Victoria Day doesn't seem quite so - imposing - as the neighbour's stated aim of remembering those who died in military service. Whilst I respect the services I don't particularly believe in the glorification of the dead. After all there's nothing very glorious about being dead. As far as I can work out it's cold, dark and lasts forever. Not too much glory there. So I guess the glory pertains to the survivors. They glorifiy the sacrifice of those who "gave their lives" so that they could retain their way of life, their fast food and their double-wides.

Or is it really more than that? Given the choice I would gladly glorify a way of life that makes death through anything but natural causes as close to impossible as it can as a far, far better thing. Let us remember the fallen indeed and resolve to do what it takes as a species to ensure their number ceases to grow.